Fountain pen filler and stand



Oct. 30; 1934. o. c. SAMPHERE FOUNTAIN PEN FILLER AND STAND Filed Jan. 22, 1931 duolmgs Patented Oct. 30, 1934 FOUNTAKN PEN FILLER AND STAND Orin C. Samphere, West Allis, Wis. Application January 22, 1931, Serial No. 510,360

Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in fountain pen fillers and stands.

It is theobject of the invention to provide a novel and simplified filling device which is appll- 5 cable to any bottle to serve the purpose of pen stand as well as a filler, and which may be operated either manually or by pressure of the pen in its normal upright position to fill the pen with ink independently of any manipulation of an ink 0 sack within the pen itself. It is my further purpose to avoid soiling the pen barrel with ink either in filling or storing the pen.

In the drawing: Figure 1 shows a vertical axial section through a device embodying this invention as it appears when a pen has been thrust downwardly therein, the normal position of the parts being shown in broken lines.

Figure 2 shows a vertical axial section through a slightly modified embodiment of the invention.

Figure 3 shows a fragmentary section of a further modification.

Like parts are identified bythe same reference characters throughout the several views.

The bottle 1 is of any ordinary or usual construction. The special closure therefor comprises a bulb 2 normally elliptical in form, as shown by the broken line illustration. This bulb has an annular neck portion 3 which is adapted to engage the mouth of the bottle and may be threaded for that purpose or provided with an annular internal channel at 4, as may be necessary. according to the style of the bottle.

The bulb 2 is preferably made of rubber or some similarly elastic substance, and is provided integrally with a tubular extension 5 which opens upwardly and passes downwardly through the bulb to a position normally at the approximate level of the annular neck 3 of the bulb. At the '40 bottom of this tube it is provided with an aperture 6 which is of materially less diameter than the tube so as to provide a shoulder 7 with which the shank 8 of a fountain pen holder 9 is engageable when the pen point 10 projects through the hole 6.

Means is preferably provided for the escape of air from the bulb and bottle assembly and for the admission of air thereto. Instead of using a rela tively inexpensive check valve and bleed by-pass, I prefer simply to provide a minute port of the order of 1/64 inch at 11 in bulb 2.

The construction disclosed in Fig. 2 corresponds in all respects to that shown in Fig. 1 with the exception that a tapered surface at 12 is substituted for the abrupt shoulder '7 in the Fig. 1 device.

Fig. 3 illustrates how a ball check fitting 13 with a by-pass bleed port 14 may be substituted for the opening 11. 69

In practice, the device will function like any standard desk set or fountain pen stand to support the fountain pen and keep the point from drying out. It is particularly to be noted that the elasticity of the bulb is such that the shoulder 7 or the tapered portion 12 of tube 5 will normally be maintained well above the level of the ink and cannot be forced down into the ink except by pressure of the fountain pen itself which seals the lower end of tube 5, thereby preventing such tube 7 from becoming soiled with ink.

When it is desired to fill the pen, pressure is applied thereto to force the point down into the ink. As above stated, such pressure seals the joint between the barrel of the pen and the tube 5. The pressure also partially collapses the bulb 2, as clearly indicated in Fig. 1, with the result that some of the air within the bulb is forced out through port 11 or fitting 13. If the amount of air displaced in this way is not sufficient, the bulb may be manipulated by the lateral engagement of the operators fingers therewith to expel any desired proportion of its volume of air. In either case, the air will return only slowly through the port 11 or the bleed duct 14, and the partial vacuum created within bottle 1 due to the elastic operation of the bulb in resuming its original spherical form will collapse the ink sack within fountain pen barrel 9, or will exhaust a portion of the air content of such barrel if it has no sack. If the point of the pen is now held below the surface of the ink within bottle 1, the gradual increase of pressure within the bottle occasioned by the admission of air thereto through port 11 or port 14, will force ink into the barrel of the pen to fill the sack or the space provided within the barrel.

It will be apparent from the foregoing description that my improved device provides, in unitary form, a holder or stand and a pen filler which can be manipulated with one hand, which does not require inversion of the pen, which does not soil the pen with ink, and which is capable of very inexpensive manufacture.

I claim:

1. A device of the character described, comprising an elastic bulb having a neck portion and an axially extending elastic tube joined at one end with the bulb and wholly supported therefrom, said tube having its free end extending in- 110 ternally thereof to a portion of reduced diameter constituting a pen barrel seat within the tube at the free end thereof, said seat providing an opening through which a pen point may project beyond said free end of said tube.

2. In a device of the character described, the combination with an elastic bulb provided with anchorage means, of a tube in hermetically tight connection with the interior of said 'bulb at one of its ends and provided at its other end with a pen barrel seat, said device being provided with a relief port affording communication between the interior of the bulb and the exterior atmosphere.

3. In a device of the character described, the combination with a container, of a hollow collapsible body superimposed thereon and connected therewith, a tube connected withsaid body and extending downwardly therethrough and provided internally with a pen barrel seat, said device having means afiording limited communication between the interior of said container andbody and the exterior atmosphere.

4.-In adevice of the character described, the combination with a container, of a hollow collapsible body superimposed thereon and connected therewith, a tube connected with said body and extending downwardly therethrough and provided internally with a pen barrel seat, said device having means affording limited communication between the interior of said container and body and the. exterior atmosphere, said seat being normally above the level of liquid in said container and yieldable toward the bottom of said container under pressure of a pen barrel seated thereon.

'5, The combination with an ink well, of an elastic bulb connected therewith and provided integrally with a tube closing the upper end of the bulb and extending therethrough toward said well and provided internally with a pen barrel seat, said bulb being ported to afford limited communication with the atmosphere and being sulficiently flexible to permit the yielding of said 1 seat toward the bottom of said well under pressure of a pen barrel thereon, and sufiiciently elastic to restore said seat to a normally elevated position upon relief of said pressure.

6. As a new article of manufacture, a rubber bulb having a bottle engaging neck and an elastic barrel is adapted for contact and being free for bodily yielding movement through said neck upon collapse of said bulb under the thrust of a pen barrel upon said seat.

7. As a new article of manufacture, a rubber bulb having a bottle engaging neck at its bottom, a tube connected at its top with said bulb and opening outwardly therefrom, said tube being sufficiently smaller than said neck to pass therethrough without interrupting communication between said bulb and a bottle engaged by said neck, and an apertured pen barrel seat provided at the lower end of said tube and adapted to receive the thrust of a pen barrel, whereby said bulb is collapsible, said bulb having sufficient elasticity normally to maintain said seat adjacent the level of said neck and to permit movement of said seat to a position below thelevel of fluid in said bottle.

8. A device of the character described comprising an elastic bulb having a bottle engaging neck and an integral elastic tube connected to said bulb opposite to said neck and opening outwardly therefrom, said tube having a free end portion projecting through said bulb receivable through said neck elastically supported by said bulb, and bodily movable upon flexing of said bulb and stretching of said tube under the thrust of a pen barrel inserted in said tube, said tube providing at said free end a seat for said pen barrel having an opening through which a pen point may project from said tube.

.9. I'he combination with an ink well, of an elastic bulb connected at its lower end with the ink well and extending thereabove, an upwardly opening elastic tube connected with the upper end of the bulb and extending therethrough, and an apertured pen seat at the lower end of said tube freely movable through the lower end of the bulb into the ink well upon collapse of the bulb, and extension of the tube, said seat providing an opening through which a pen point may project into the ink in said well.

10. A device of the character described comprising a bulb having a relatively small neck portion and walls of elastic material curving outwardly and upwardly from said neck portion, upwardly and inwardly toward each other and downwardly within said bulb to the vicinity of said neck portion to form a pen receiving tube, sealingmeans for engaging a pen at the bottom of said tube, and a vent in said bulb communicating from the interior thereof to the external atmosphere.

ORIN C. SAMPHERE.

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